


Shadows don't matter close to the light

by boxofwonder



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Kagehina centric, M/M, They're all dorks but that's nothing new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 06:39:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1500494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/pseuds/boxofwonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was no reason to be scared it was <em>just a movie oh God that was a LOT OF BLOOD -</em> </p>
<p>In which Karasuno watches a scary movie and Kageyama sees lurking monsters in every shadow, Hinata has the logic of horror movies down (you're doomed if you split up), and they have a trainwreck of a sleep-over.</p>
<p>I guess there's a few spoilers in here if you don't read the manga?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows don't matter close to the light

**Author's Note:**

> I spent the entirety of my day so far editing this fic in my pajamas. (And several nights in a row writing it because for some reason 'haha a drabble about Karasuno watching a scary movie' turned into a 9.000 something beast of a fic.)  
> But yay, here we go!  
> (Sobs somebody help me I love all of these dorks so much and I want to write so many fics with them aaaah.)
> 
> Edit: Now with slightly less shitty formatting! :D

Team Bonding. _Team Bonding._ Pff.  
  
Was that really necessary? After fighting so many strong teams, did they really need to sit down in front of a TV and watch a dumb movie to work together better? Certainly not. Kageyama was pretty sure it was simply a ruse on Nishinoya's part to get them all to watch a dumb movie with him, and nothing else. But since he didn't exactly have the option to skip out on it, he found himself in front of the door, wondering last minute what movie it even was.  
  
“Royalty arrived at last!”, Tsukishima, that bastard, called over his shoulder.  
  
“Shut it, I'm not even that la-” His retort was drowned out by both Hinata and Nishinoya storming into the hall, jumping all over each other and yelling excitedly.  
  
“Kageyama, did you hear?! We're watching a scary movie!” Hinata looked at him wide eyed (was he imagining that, or did he look a bit nervous?) and Nishinoya threw his head back and cackled. “There's nothing better than a scary movie!”  
  
Oh.  
  
Not that Kageyama would be scared by a _movie_. Please. It was all make-up tricks and CGI, nothing to worry about. Hinata would probably puke, though. Kageyama glanced at Tsukishima's bored expression and hoped that he'd freak out as well. That would be gold.  
  
“Nervous?”, Tsukishima asked with a smirk.  
  
“Why would I be?” He raised his chin a bit, ignoring the weird twist in his stomach. He couldn't even remember watching anything worse than a crime show where one corpse was found at the beginning, and that was about it with the blood and gore. Honestly, Kageyama didn't have time to watch anything other than volleyball on TV.  
  
Which was precisely what he'd rather be doing, but when he had suggested it, Tanaka and Nishinoya had immediately declared him 'no fun' and overruled common sense in favour of … their thing.  
  
Things only grew louder and more chaotic when they made their way into the living room, where the entire Karasuno team was sprawled around and over the big sofa. Kageyama was sure even real crows were less chaotic than those guys.  
  
Ennochita sat at the foot of the couch with the other two second-years, all huddled together with a blanket over their shoulders and a popcorn bowl in their lap. Tanaka had stretched out on the actual sofa enough to take up as much space as three people would, and Nishinoya didn't give a damn as he jumped back on it, ignoring Tanaka's yells as he scrambled to roll over him to where Asahi was sitting with his legs drawn up to his chin. He looked too big on the small space he took up, and Kageyama was pretty sure he was terrified at the prospect of having to sit through a scary movie.  
  
Yamaguchi sat on a cube that seemed to go with the sofa, and Tsukishima joined him on it, long legs stretched out. Suga and Daichi were in the middle of it all, next to each other on the space of the sofa that wasn't taken up by Tanaka alone.  
  
Honestly, Kageyama would have just sat down somewhere on the floor, but Hinata took his arm and actually pulled him with him. That's how Kageyama found himself all squished up between Hinata and Tanaka, which could not end well.  
  
Hinata's fingers were drumming an unusual erratic rhythm on the sofa cushion as more blankets were passed around, and more bowls of popcorn found their way to more or less nervous hands. The entire team was buzzing with emotions ranging from terrified (Asahi and Hinata) to 'overjoyed and with too much energy' (Nishinoya and Tanaka).  
  
“Alright, you guys! Everybody ready?!”  
  
A disarranged chorus of answers painted a satisfied grin on his face as he put the disc into the DVD-player and snatched up the remote to once again trample all over Tanaka (who took up much less space than before already).  
  
“All of you, shut up! Let's do this!”  
  
Hinata froze next to him, to an extent where he stopped chewing the popcorn in his mouth. Asahi whimpered and made Nishinoya pat his back roughly. It was really just their reactions making Kageyama feel nervous as well. All their fault. They were being ridiculous anyway, this was just the DVD menu and Nishinoya had only hit play so far.  
  
Kageyama grabbed a handful of popcorn and repeated in his head that this was just a movie and everything in there was done by actors and specialists. The blood wasn't even real. Who would even get scared by something like that?  
  
It was ridiculous. Hinata was acting ridiculous. And a glance towards Tsukishima revealed that unfortunately, he seemed as collected as ever.  
  
A dark forest appeared on the screen, the music low and menacing. Hinata started chewing the popcorn again like a stressed out hamster, and Nishinoya kept patting Asahi on the back, a manic grin still on his face. The entire team had fallen silent for once, anticipating whatever was about to come. In the absolute silence only interrupted by that scary music, three people flinched when Tanaka cracked his knuckles. He laughed until Nishinoya kicked him in the shin and told him to shut up.  
  
The atmosphere was more lighthearted after that. Well, until the monster appeared with a big, loud crash of drums and made everybody flinch all over again. Kageyama dug his fingers into the nearest cushion and fought to keep his expression neutral. Really, this was just Hinata's fault, Kageyama wouldn't flinch so much if he wouldn't act like that.  
  
There was no reason to be scared it was _just a movie oh God that was a LOT OF BLOOD -_  
  
Kageyama had to force his mouth shut again and swallow several sounds he never wanted anybody else to hear. Hinata made gurgling noises that made him wonder for a second if he choked on his popcorn in the shock. Daichi clung to one of Suga's sleeves, seemingly without noticing, gaze still glued to the screen.  
  
Asahi was probably about to get a heart attack. Only Nishinoya and Tanaka seemed completely unfazed. The latter watched the monster claw somebody to pieces while he tried to catch popcorn with his mouth.  
  
Kageyama forced himself to eat some popcorn, hoping that it would relax him a bit, only for _him_ to half choke when the monster jumped towards the camera and the screen went black with another loud noise.  
  
It was only a movie. It was only a movie and by now, they were watching the protagonists anyway. A lot of dumbasses thinking it would be a good idea to run out of gas in a forest where people vanished on a regular basis. Kageyama used the moments of peace before the monster came back to get himself a blanket after all, and felt a lot more secure with it.  
  
Hinata, holding onto the bowl so tightly that Kageyama expected to see cracks creeping over the glass any second, shuffled a bit closer.  
  
“Share with me!”  
  
“Get your own blanket, idiot!”  
  
“You snatched the last one!”  
  
“Shut up!”, came two voices from different ends of the room and they fell silent, Hinata's pleading gaze boring into Kageyama's head from the side. Damn him and his stupid, big, brown puppy dog eyes. It was only worse, now that he was scared and his eyes were even wider.  
  
“Don't puke”, he hissed, hoping only Hinata could hear him as he shifted the blanket so that he could have a part of it as well.  
  
“Shut up”, Hinata hissed back, too busy handling the blanket and the popcorn to really get into a fight. Which was unfortunate, because that would have been a lot easier to handle than watching the movie as the scary music returned.  
  
“They really shouldn't have split up”, he could hear Daichi mutter and some heads all around nodded in silent agreement as they watched a girl stumble over roots and fight her way through the forest while the music turned more and more dramatic. The anticipation of the monster became so overwhelming, Kageyama held his breath and dug his fingers back into the cushion with enough force for it to be uncomfortable.  
  
Hinata went back to the stress hamster munching next to him. For a split second, Kageyama allowed himself the thought that it was a lot nicer watching this with Hinata close enough that their arms brushed, and the blanket over both of them, before the monster made an appearance again.  
  
His shriek fortunately was drowned out by Asahi and Hinata and some other voices he couldn't quite identify screaming. Nishinoya failed at stifling his laughter.  
  
Kageyama fiercely wished he could sink into the cushions behind him and disappear instead of staring at a screen with _so much blood oh Lord, why that much blood, what the -_  
  
The monster disappeared once again, and Kageyama forced his tensed up muscles to relax. Hinata was so close by now, if he would just tilt his head a bit, it would rest on Kageyama's shoulder. The way they were sitting seemed like a cliché from some romance flick.  
  
A jolt worse than the one he got when the monster jumped out behind the abandoned hut snapped him to attention. What the hell was he even thinking about? He moved his shoulder to inch Hinata off of him, who looked up at him like a kicked puppy before pulling back.  
  
His ears burning, Kageyama mumbled something he couldn't even understand himself as an explanation. He was probably overreacting a bit.  
  
Then again, three of his teammates had flinched at cracking knuckles, so it was probably just Karasuno rubbing off on him.  
  
Grateful for the distraction from _those_ dumb thoughts, Kageyama immersed himself in the dialogue the three people left of the group were having.  
  
Kageyama had to admit, they were more dumb than Hinata on his worst days. It wasn't surprising how all of them were slaughtered if they didn't even have common sense. Kageyama wondered if all of his team would survive if they ended up stranded in that forest – well, he would certainly get by. Captain and Suga, too. That idiot Tsukishima would most likely make it, no matter how much Kageyama hated to admit it. Then there were a lot of the airheads, and that was when he wasn't so sure anym-  
  
“GYAAAH!”  
  
Hinata screamed into his ear and lunged himself at Kageyama whose own screeching was drowned out by the screams all around once again. Holy - ! That came out of nowhere.  
  
The need to cover his face with his hands and only peek at the movie through his fingers was overwhelming. Only the fact that Tsukishima was twisting around to look back at him made Kageyama endure the death of the next person with his eyes open, his breathing flat and fast.  
  
Hinata clung to his arm and this time Kageyama let him. Just because he was such a nice person, and it probably made Hinata feel better. It certainly didn't make Kageyama feel better to have dumb, loud Hinata clinging to him as if he could save him from every monster. Why would that be a nice feeling?  
  
Kageyama was sure anyway that nothing would ever be a nice feeling again as he listened to the screams of the dying teenager.  
  
Why would anybody think it was a good idea to watch these movies? Why would _anybody_ think that? Kageyama couldn't understand a lot of things about a lot of his teammates (like how Suga managed to smile without making people run for their lives, or how everybody else could stand Tsukishima, or how loud Tanaka and Nishinoya and Hinata could be), but this time it was seriously baffling how Nishinoya and Tanaka seemed to _enjoy_ this movie. Kageyama swore to himself that he'd never watch a scary movie in his life again. Ever.  
  
The last two surviving protagonists were running for their lives right now, branches hitting their faces and their chances of survival definitely butchered because they couldn't stop crying hysterically. Kageyama wanted to reach out and smack some sense into those dumb people. (Clearly that goddamn abandoned hut wasn't the solution! Duh!)  
  
Most of all he just wanted the damn movie to be over, though.  
  
By now it all turned horribly silent again, the anticipation of what was about to come even worse than watching the monster tear people to pieces. Hinata's grip on Kageyama's arm reached a level that made him expect his fingers to start prickling because the blood couldn't properly flow anymore, and at some point he didn't dig his fingers into the couch cushion, but clung to the fabric of Hinata's shirt. Both of them screamed as the monster showed up for the final showdown – the entire room did.  
  
(Nishinoya screamed the loudest and then dissolved into hysterical giggling.)  
  
By the time the last standing protagonist returned home – not half as traumatised as Asahi was, probably – Kageyama and Hinata were full-out clinging to each other. They were so close, Kageyama could pinpoint the exact second Hinata realised the position they were in. They stared at each other for a heartbeat, before Hinata started blushing, spluttering and pulling back (all at once). Kageyama wasn't half as embarrassed. It had been an emergency, so what?  
  
“You guys were all cute, scared like that!”  
  
“Tanaka, don't make fun of them.” Daichi shot him a stern look.  
  
“Have you guys never watched a horror movie before?!”  
  
Kageyama wanted to snap at Nishinoya for laughing at them, but felt like it would be better to lay low for once since he had acted embarrassing himself and he really didn't need anybody to call him out on -  
  
“Well, the king certainly didn't, or he wouldn't have clung to the peasants.”  
  
Damn that Tsukishima. Unfortunately Kageyama couldn't recall any instance where that guy had acted scared – mostly he'd been too busy watching the movie and handling Hinata and not freaking out completely to pay much attention to him anyway.  
  
“Hey, I'm not a peasant!”, Hinata complained and shifted forward into a stance suited to jump from, jabbing his elbow into Daichi's side who winced and let it go, instead asking Asahi if he was okay.  
  
There wasn't an answer, but Tanaka laughed that obnoxious laughter of his and clapped the Ace's back.  
  
“When he can handle being on the court, he can handle a little blood!”  
  
“Jeez, that was a bad movie ...”, Yamaguchi muttered, seemingly the only one in all this who still had some common sense left. Kageyama was too hung up on the suddenly cold and empty space next to him to join into the discussion about the quality of the movie. Nishinoya defended his choice vigorously while most of the team sided with Yamaguchi.  
  
Now that they didn't all have to face the TV any more, their sitting arrangements shifted. Captain and Suga sat left and right from Asahi to pat his back and mumble reassuring words while he gradually relaxed. (Seriously, how did people manage to calm somebody else down? When Kageyama tried that he only ever made things worse.)  
  
Nishinoya was half hanging off Tanaka's shoulder while he and Hinata dissolved into that language only loud airheads seemed to speak. None of them seemed too frightened any longer, but Kageyama couldn't help but notice the darkness outside at the window. He knew there were branches there, close to the window. He'd seen them in the daylight, and now there could be anything hiding behind them as it grew darker outside.  
  
Not quite ready to let go of the blanket on his lap, he pulled it up a bit more (for warmth, of course) and realised too late that mostly popcorn kernels were left in the bowl. Stubbornly crunching his way through them, he tried not to think about how he had to go outside very soon. And how quickly glass could shatter if somebody wanted to break into this house.  
  
“Woooah, watch out! Kageyama is going to murder us all!”  
  
What the heck! Why was it that whenever he was in thought, people assumed he was plotting bloody murder?  
  
“Am not!”  
  
“Eh, you'll have to be less angry to be convincing!”, Hinata laughed, and Kageyama seriously had to wonder how he could be that cheerful after literally clinging to him in terror only minutes ago.  
  
“I don't have to prove a thing! I didn't kill you so far, that's proof enough!”  
  
“I wish we had time for another movie! Hearing you all scream was awesome!”  
  
Somebody flung a pillow at Nishinoya's face and effectively shut him up. Kageyama had been watching Hinata, so he knew it hadn't been him, but Nishinoya threw it back into his face anyway. Kageyama scrambled out of the war zone (still feeling like he should press his back against something at all times) and watched the catastrophe unfolding from that attack until Hinata threw a pillow at him and made the whole thing personal.  
  
He wasn't entirely sure what exactly happened after that, only that it all ended with Hinata jumping, missing the sofa and thumping to the floor with his arm hitting the coffee table. Kageyama was in a choke hold by Tanaka at this point and couldn't do anything but keep flailing, but he winced at the sound.  
  
“Alright, everybody stop this nonsense!”  
  
That tone of voice still sent shivers down Kageyama's spine. Their captain could be so scary. Tanaka let go of him and Kageyama face-planted the sofa, groaning when somebody kicked him in the back as they scrambled over him.  
  
"Shouyou!" Damn that Nishinoya. Even though Kageyama had to admit, he felt like rushing to Hinata's side, too, if only to hit that dumbass across the head and smack some sense into his thick skull. What the heck was he thinking?! He needed to be at his full health, injuries would be a catastrophe for everything they had worked so hard for!  
  
“Are you okay?” Both Suga (how had he even gotten over there that fast?) and Nishinoya helped Hinata sit up, who shook his head like a crow might shake it's ruffled feathers.  
  
“I'm fine, ouch, it's not that bad.”  
  
Kageyama held his breath along with the rest of the people in the room as Hinata stretched his body to see if he hadn't hurt his arm (or anything else) from his dumb fall.  
  
“Nah, I'm good!”  
  
He said that as if he had found a coin on the ground, completely careless and without any second thought to what would have happened if he had sprained his arm.  
  
“You dumb fucking idiot!” Finally out of his shock, Kageyama stretched so that he could at least grab the back of Hinata's collar. Fair enough. “Are you even thinking?! Or would that hurt your poor brain?! Do you have any idea what that would have meant for the team?!”  
  
“Get off my back, it didn't do anything! Jeez!”  
  
The tense atmosphere in the room dissolved, and once captain and vice-captain had broken up their fight, they all helped collect the wayward pillows strewn about (where had Nishinoya snatched all those, anyway?) and clean up the one bowl of popcorn that had gotten knocked over in their pillow fight. By the end of it, the living room had turned from a war zone back to a living space.  
  
Unfortunately, Kageyama also remembered why he had felt so unsafe earlier. It still felt like something was lurking right behind his back, one second away from sinking it's claws into him and ripping out his guts, destroying all the dreams he'd ever had for the present and the future and making a bloody mess -  
  
When Suga clapped a hand on his shoulder, Kageyama flinched very badly.  
  
The upperclassman didn't comment on it, though, and for that Kageyama was actually grateful. Well, until he heard what he wanted to tell him.  
  
“You really care about him, don't you?”  
  
Kageyama opened his mouth, made a sound he would forever deny resembling a squawk, and closed it again, his face heating up already. What the hell!  
  
“Gosh, you kouhai are adorable.”  
  
Suga smiled that smile of his that made children stop crying and puppies wriggle their tail and left him standing there dumb-founded (and still feeling slightly paranoid) to join Asahi in the crowded doorway. Kageyama could hear him reassure his friend that he'd walk him home.  
  
“Somebody should go with me! It's dark outside and the monster always gets you when you're alone!” Hinata's voice rang clear even in all the chatter and the first goodbyes filling the hall around.  
  
Kageyama pursed his lips and made sure to stick around close to Hinata. It was a small detour. Okay, maybe a big one. Really big one. But that was probably what Suga had meant, right? He wanted him to walk with his partner so that no monsters could get Hinata. (Or him, on that matter. Hinata wasn't even that off with his observation that people on their own were generally doomed.)  
  
Hinata didn't get it when they told everyone goodbye and were walking down the street next to each other. It took him three street corners to stop in his tracks, turn around and stare at Kageyama in confusion.  
  
“Aren't you going in the wrong direction?”  
  
“Do I look dumb enough to you to do that?”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
They started walking again, and Kageyama thought he had dropped that topic, but then Hinata turned on him all of a sudden, and Kageyama was _sure_ he could see the freaking sparkle in his eyes.  
  
“So you're walking with me so the monster won't get me!”  
  
“Oi! Don't be so full of yourself, it'll be good for me to get some extra exercise!” He buried his nose in his jacket collar, suddenly embarrassed to hell by the way Hinata's face had lit up. He looked so goddamn _happy_. As if Kageyama had just bought him a year long supply of candy, when all he was doing was walking with him a bit.  
  
“But you're also doing it because the monster won't get me, right?!”  
  
“... guess so”, he mumbled so quietly into the fabric of his jacket it should have been impossible for Hinata to pick up on it, but of course he did.  
  
“Ooooh!”, he cooed, and the awe in his voice ticked Kageyama off. “You _do_ care!”  
  
“What are you talking about, dumbass? Of course I care! We've been practicing together for so long! You think I want to start from scratch and try to make another one the strongest?”  
  
Hinata made a weird noise at that, one that sounded as if somebody had tried to strangle a dog, and didn't answer. Unsettled by the silence, Kageyama looked over at him, and the wide grin on Hinata's face, that expression of pure joy shocked him to his very core. He felt hot from his toes to his finger tips to his scalp and looked ahead again with so much force, his neck cracked.  
  
Neither of them really talked after that, but Hinata had that _skip_ in his step Kageyama couldn't ignore, even when he didn't look directly at him.  
  
Somehow, Hinata always caught his attention, _always_ made Kageyama aware of him. His presence was undeniable, it could capture the attention of an entire court for a reason.  
  
“Shouldn't you start heading home?”, Hinata asked after a while, his voice oddly quiet. It snapped Kageyama from his weird, jumbled thoughts about the boy next to him back to the dark night they were walking through and the fact that _he still felt like he might be attacked at any second._ He had made a mistake wanting to walk Hinata to the city boundaries, because now his own way home was so much longer, and he really didn't feel like splitting up with Hinata any time soon, so he just kept walking and walking.  
  
Afraid that he might feel that strange heat again and make things uncomfortable, Kageyama simply shrugged and concentrated on listening to all the sounds around them, his entire body on alert now for any monsters that might jump out and attack them.  
  
While some part of him knew it was impossible that beasts like that even existed, another part of him wanted to make _extra sure_ that neither of them died before the Spring Tournament. Who could blame him for that? It was the rational thing to do.  
  
Everything seemed fairly normal and safe – until suddenly, in an alley directly next to them clanging noises echoed through the night, eerily loud in the silence. It took a few heart wrenching moments in which adrenaline had already flooded his entire body for Kageyama to recognize the dark shadow running by them. Probably just a cat that had made a trash can topple over and was as freaked out as they were.  
  
Kageyama exhaled, and only then realised the position they were in. Somehow, he had shifted and extended one arm slightly, as if to shield Hinata, who held on to his arm with a loose grip. Hinata opened and closed his mouth like a very embarrassed fish and they jumped apart as if they had gotten an electrical shock from their touch.  
  
The heat was back, even worse than before. At least Hinata had his bike to hold on to, Kageyama could only push his fists into his jacket pockets and try to calm his heartbeat down by will alone. (His will was definitely strong enough, but somehow it still didn't work.)  
  
“Just so you know -”, Hinata started after quite a while, destroying once again the hope that they had dodged the topic. “I wouldn't just hide behind you if a real monster attacked us, I'd fight and protect you, too.”  
  
“Who said I needed you to protect me?!”  
  
Truth to be told, his mouth is on autopilot with this one, his thoughts somewhere else. Hinata's words felt like being surrounded by hot coal, as if he'd burn himself no matter what his next step would be.  
  
“Oi, stop being such a tyrant! We survive as a team, duh!”  
  
That hit right where it hurt. He hated being called a tyrant, that time should be far behind him by now. He stared down at the ground at his feet, quietly fuming, wondering why he didn't answer.  
  
Why was Hinata throwing him so off balance today? He couldn't explain it.  
  
It was probably some combination of the dumb movie and Suga's weird remark. God damn it. And everybody suddenly wondering if Kageyama _cared_ about Hinata.  
  
“Hey, Kageyama?”  
  
He would never get his peace today, would he?  
  
“What?”  
  
“You know, if we were in the gym. So we had lots of volleyballs around. And then the monster showed up – do you think we could fight it? Like, if you tossed to me and I did a quickball over and over and right into it's face! Do you think we would be able to knock it out?”  
  
Kageyama thought back to that time Hinata's serve had hit him right into the back of his head, and then tried to imagine that same thing, twenty times in a row. Wincing, he rubbed at his head.  
  
“Yeah, I think so.”  
  
Hinata's face lit up again and he seemed honest to God _relieved_. “That's good, then! So I won't have to be scared during practice.”  
  
Kageyama stared at him, outright at first and then from the corner of his eyes.  
  
In this moment, with his face determined and his world more safe because he thought he could fend off monsters using his quick strike, Hinata was as sincere as ever, and Kageyama didn't know what he felt, didn't know how to deal with him like that. His logic was weird and warped, no doubt, but Hinata was still bright in his own way, and a contradiction in itself, hell, he cheated gravity with his determination alone. And right here, right now, Hinata was _adorable_.  
  
There was no other way to put it, and Kageyama _hated_ that. 

He was so wrapped up in his observations and that tangle of thoughts that kept trapping him deeper and deeper in their web, he only realised when he was five steps ahead that Hinata had stopped. Kageyama turned around, taking a breath to ask what the hell was going on now, when he realised that this was probably Hinata's house.  
  
 _Oh._ That meant he'd have to walk alone from here. A much longer way. And cross a forest all on his own – a forest about which he only didn't panic because his mind was so busy with dumb thoughts.  
  
He took two reluctant steps forward, back towards Hinata. Maybe they could discuss monster killing methods again after all, just to stall some time? He really didn't want to walk on his own, that was the goddamn reason why he was even here in the first place!  
  
“Here we are.” Suddenly, Hinata was quiet again. It didn't really suit him.  
  
Kageyama shrugged – what was he supposed to say? - and Hinata fidgeted with the handles of his bike. When he accidentally made the bell ring, both of them flinched, and Kageyama quickly tried to cover it up with coughing.  
  
“So ...”  
  
“So.”  
  
When Hinata looked at him, it wasn't the way he usually did, with his head held high. Rather, he glanced up at him from under his eye lashes, and … that was … certainly pretty … weird. Honestly, weird was the closest word to describe what Kageyama was feeling right now, and even that didn't seem quite right.  
  
“I really wanted to watch that movie with you guys, you know. Even though I might not have enjoyed it as much as Tanaka, or Nishinoya … it was great to spend time with the team! Even without practicing or planning something for volleyball!”  
  
What the hell? Why was Hinata telling him that? As much time as he had spent around him, and as easy to understand Hinata might seem, Kageyama would never figure him out. Not in fifty years. Not that he would still be around Hinata in fifty years, right? Then he'd probably go bold when he was thirty.  
  
Would they still be able to play volleyball together in fifty years? Jeez, that was such a long time.  
  
“So I stayed home, even though Mum took Natsu along to go visit our aunt! It's just for the weekend, and I'm in high school now … so it's fine … staying alone at home.”  
  
There it was. Kageyama bit the inside of his cheek and pretended he hadn't finally understood where Hinata was coming from.  
  
Neither of them said anything for while, and the silence was so awkward and thick, they could probably cut it in neat slices and make … awkward sandwiches. What the hell was he even thinking?!  
  
“You have a really long way home now, huh?”, Hinata asked, trying hard to be subtle and failing completely.  
  
“Well, I mean, I can jog, so I'll be faster.”  
  
He didn't really mean it, Kageyama was just too proud and a whole lot too unsure about this whole thing to latch onto Hinata's train of thought and relieve him from his sneaky approach. Hinata always blurted things out without second thoughts, so his head was probably hurting right now from trying to speak subtext.  
  
“Yes, but! You'd be alone! And I'd be alone!”  
  
There was a hint of that intensity that always sent shivers down his spine as Hinata talked now, taking half a step closer, as far as his bike would let him.  
  
“So it would probably be better if we stayed together! You said it yourself, we could fight the monster!”  
  
“In the gym, with volleyballs everywhere, and when we had enough time to aim -”  
  
“I have lots of volleyballs, too! They're pretty worn out, but they'll be enough!”  
  
“I don't even have a pajama with me, or a tooth brush.”  
  
“I could lend you my stuff, and we have a spare one!”  
  
Who said that Kageyama even wanted to wear his stuff?!  
  
“Or do you seriously want to walk back through the forest?! On your own?! What if the monster attacks you! What about the Spring Tournament! What about your mum, what if she cries because you got killed because you were too stubborn to -”  
  
“Alright, alright, will you shut up when I say yes?!”  
  
To be honest, he was very relieved knowing that he didn't need to spend any more time out here. Spending the night at Hinata's didn't rank high on the list of things he actually wanted to do, but it was better than sprinting through the forest feeling like there was a predator on his trail and possibly _dying_ because of that. He hadn't trained that much for his life to end here! And he certainly didn't want his mother to cry.  
  
“I'll have to call home to tell my parents.”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
And that was how a few minutes later, he found himself in Hinata Shouyou's home, nervously curling and uncurling his toes as he looked around and took it all in, the phone pressed to his ear. The household wasn't particularly big or fancy, but it looked chaotic and lived in and would probably feel cozy if Kageyama didn't feel like something might be hiding in every shadow. He was glad Hinata was still hovering in the living room, close to the door to give him his private space, but still around. It _did_ make him feel more safe, even if he'd rather tattoo the word 'King' on his neck than admit that.  
  
His mother was so disbelieving that Kageyama would spend his night over at a friend's, it was a little offending, but he couldn't really blame her. When had been the last time he'd done something like that? If there had been one, he didn't remember. So of course Kageyama was at a loss concerning general sleepover guidelines.  
  
Well, it was pretty late already, so fortunately they'd probably just brush their teeth and go to sleep soon. (Kageyama just hoped he'd be able to sleep. If he had nightmares tonight, it would all be Nishinoya's and Tanaka's fault.)  
  
“Is it okay if you stay here?”, Hinata asked, pretending that he hadn't heard the conversation. Kageyama played along, embarrassed at the times he had to repeat that yes, he was actually staying over at a friend's house. Declaring Hinata a friend in front of his mother had been enough embarrassment for a month, to be honest.  
  
“She's okay with it.”  
  
“Awesome! Do you want me to give you a tour of the house?”  
  
Kageyama peered at the dark hallway behind him and the other door leading into a dark room to his right, and swallowed hard.  
  
“Or … we could just do that tomorrow morning.” He could see that Hinata glanced at the doors the same way he had done, so he probably had the same thought process.  
  
“Let's go to my room, we can set up base there! I have most of the volleyballs there, too!”  
  
Hinata flicked on the light and dashed down the hallway again, and Kageyama hurried after as fast as he could without seeming too desperate.  
  
Hinata's room was every bit as messy as Kageyama would have expected. Clothes were strewn about, his bed was unmade, there was a wild scatter of paper and books on his desk buried under things that didn't look like they were even meant to be on a desk. Hinata made his way through the chaos with certain steps that proved he was used to living around the chaos.  
  
Hinata collected a volleyball from the shelf above his desk and lightly threw it over without looking at Kageyama. He placed it at his feet, unsure what to do with it, as Hinata bent over the end of his bed and fished one out from behind there. This one was a lot more faded, the colour that once probably had been white proving that Hinata had used it outdoors a lot.  
  
Kageyama spun the worn out ball in his hands, amazed at the relict of Hinata's three years of determined training before High School. Hinata vanished halfway under his bed to get the next one, which had lots of signatures all over the material. It felt new, the colours still stark, the white bright.  
  
“Whose signatures are that?”, he asked when Hinata had passed him that ball as well.  
  
“Ah! The girl's team signed that volleyball. It was their parting gift. I never used it - I want their signatures to stay. Got you!” He had pulled another volleyball from under a pile of clothes and Kageyama scrambled to catch it with one hand as he was still holding the signed ball.  
  
Hinata hadn't even been on their team, yet they had all made sure to give him a parting gift. Kageyama couldn't imagine anyone doing something like that for him.  
  
“Okay, I think that were all of them. That should be enough, right?”  
  
“Yes”, Kageyama muttered without thinking about it, still wondering about the signatures on the volleyball. They didn't even annoy him, they just … made him kind of sad. Which was dumb, who would get sad over a girl's team signing a stupid volleyball for somebody?  
  
But maybe that was what Suga had meant. Hinata made people care about him. Kageyama did care, those girls had cared. It made him wonder if … if Hinata maybe cared about him as well. And that was just … ridiculous.  
  
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Hinata threw clothes at him from where he was kneeling in front of a drawer. Kageyama's reflexes were fast enough, but the pants unfolded halfway in the air, so in the end he held on to one leg while the other flapped over his head. Hinata's obnoxious laughter … made the room a bit brighter.  
  
Today was certainly a weird day.  
  
“Those are my biggest pants and a wide shirt, so it should fit you”, Hinata told him when he had finally calmed down enough, a smile still playing around his lips.  
  
Kageyama looked down at the clothes and considered sleeping in his own, but it would feel gross to come home tomorrow in clothes he had sweated and slept in. So he told himself to suck it up and pulled his shirt over his head, freezing at the small … gasp? from Hinata's direction.  
  
“What?”, he asked defensively, arms still tangled in the shirt over his head.  
  
“What?”, Hinata asked back, his voice a squeak. Kageyama saw the slight colour on his cheeks before he turned and started fussing with something on his desk, his back to Kageyama.  
  
“You saw me changing in the locker room before, don't act like it's a big deal now!”  
  
Somehow, Hinata's embarrassment was infectious. Why did he have to make things awkward now?!  
  
“It's different when you're doing it in my room, just like that!”  
  
“It's not!”  
  
But Kageyama slipped Hinata's shirt over his head as fast as possible anyway, and looked down at himself, feeling insecure. Was there really a difference? Should he maybe change somewhere else? Then again, Tanaka ran around shirtless for quite long times, and nobody on the team had ever minded changing around each other.  
  
A room couldn't make that much of a difference – right? It was just Hinata being weird and overdramatic. So he quickly changed into the sweatpants as well, looking down at his naked ankles with a frown. The pants ended way too soon, but at least they weren't uncomfortable around the waist.  
  
“You can turn around now, you know”, he grumbled, folding his arms over his chest. The whole changing thing had made him feel self-conscious, and these clothes didn't help. The shirt went halfway to his thighs, on Hinata it was probably a nightgown. Why did he even have something like that?  
  
When Kageyama noticed the crow on the front of the shirt, he got his answer.  
  
“It's not like I turned around because of you, idiot! I had some stuff to sort out.”  
  
If anything, the desk looked even more untidy than before. It was hard to tell, though.  
  
“Just hurry up and get changed too or something.”  
  
Kageyama awkwardly sat down on the floor right where he stood, folding himself between the stuff on the ground and the volleyballs littering the floor. In Hinata's kind of small room, he felt a lot less paranoid than before, and the volleyballs helped as well. Not because he thought they'd be of any help against monsters in a room as small as this, but they always had a calming effect on him.  
  
He had two in his own room. Neither of them had been given to him, he had always spent his own money on them.  
  
When he got a glimpse of Hinata's bare back, realisation suddenly hit him that the other one probably hadn't been that overdramatic after all. It actually did make a difference that they were in his small, cramped room now, with nowhere much too look than at the play of muscles as Hinata moved, and that … that made the weird feeling stir in him again. Kageyama didn't like that, ignored the heat he could feel his cheeks prickling with, and forced his gaze down to the worn out volleyball, alternating between spinning it in his hands and tracing the faded colours.  
  
All the while, he was more than painfully aware of Hinata's presence and wished himself out into the hallway. Even if a monster was there, it couldn't be half as bad as this, sitting here with flushed cheeks and feeling weird just because a teammate was changing around him.  
  
Kageyama had never felt like this when faced with Tanaka's bare back. Maybe it was because everything made him feel on edge today?  
  
He really needed some sleep, the world would make more sense again tomorrow.  
  
At least Hinata's pajama was kind of embarrassing as well, with a hole at the knee that would have made Kageyama's mother force him to throw the pants out already. Then again, there actually was a _volleyball_ pattern all over them, so that was probably why Hinata was still clinging to them. His shirt read 'Fight!!' and actually fit him, which didn't really help distract Kageyama from … whatever. He didn't even know himself.  
  
“Uhm ...” Hinata was rubbing at his head in a way that couldn't mean anything good for what he was about to say. Kageyama stopped fumbling with the ball in his hand and held it, ready to fling it at Hinata's face if necessary.  
  
“So I kind of … need to go to the toilet.”  
  
“So what! Don't tell me about that, just go.”  
  
Seriously, what was that guy's deal! Kageyama had already seen what his puke looked like, that was enough gross stuff to know about Hinata to last him a lifetime.  
  
“But I'm scared!”  
  
“I won't go and hold your hand on the toilet, you moron! What are you, a pervert?!”  
  
“I'm not a pervert! I didn't even mean it like that! Just go wait in front of the door so you can hear me scream if anything happens!”  
  
“Nothing will happen!”  
  
“You don't know that! That's exactly what that guy told his girlfriend and then his girlfriend was the next to die! Because he didn't go with her when she asked him!”  
  
“Shut up!” He mostly didn't want to hear the word girlfriend out of Hinata's mouth ever again, so he got to his feet. “I'm gonna be generous and come with, but only because you're such a crybaby!”  
  
“I'm not a crybaby at all! You know what, you can stay here, I don't even want you to wait on me!”  
  
“What the hell! You asked me to seconds ago, what's your problem?!”  
  
“What's _your_ problem?”  
  
Hinata stormed out of the room.  
  
“That didn't even make sense!”, Kageyama yelled after him as he followed close on his heels, partly because he was just as stubborn as Hinata, and partly because he didn't feel comfortable left on his own, either. At least Hinata's voice drowned out the silence that could make him feel even more paranoid.  
  
“Did too!”  
  
The door slammed in his face.  
  
“Did not!”  
  
“Go away!”, Hinata yelled from inside and Kageyama pressed himself against the wall next to the door, torn between ignoring the shadows seeping from the living room down the hall or peering into them, on the look-out for movements. Maybe he'd be the one who had to yell for help, and what if Hinata was still on the toilet then?  
  
The rational part of his brain somehow grew more and more quiet as Kageyama did stare into the shadows, and the probability of a monster jumping out to attack him seemed more and more likely. By the time the door finally opened again, Kageyama was terrified to a point where he wanted to crawl out of his own skin and felt like he'd never be able to move from his spot pressed to the wall again.  
  
Seeing the familiar mob of bright hair made him feel instantly better.  
  
“You took your time”, he accused, even though it had probably only seemed like that to him because he had been working himself up so much. Hinata screamed and jumped into the air, turning and bringing his hands up crossed in front of him.  
  
The shock on his face melted into both relief and annoyance as he realised it was Kageyama.  
  
“Jesus! I thought you went back! Don't scare me like that!”  
  
“Well, I didn't!”  
  
He refused to ask Hinata to wait up for him as well, his pride still somewhat intact and willed to keep it that way, as he ducked into the bathroom as well. He avoided to look at the mirror (because if he looked at the mirror, he _would_ see a monster behind him), and felt another instant pang of relief once he opened the door back up and saw Hinata still standing there.  
  
They brushed their teeth on both sides of the mirror, still refusing to look at it, and somehow ended up in a wild sprint back to Hinata's room, Hinata yelling at Kageyama to hide while he slammed the door shut and turned the key in the lock. (Could locks hold monsters out? Didn't they just break through the door?)  
  
Kageyama was half crouching, unsure whether to actually hide or just refuse, but got up properly again as soon as the small moment of utter hysteria was over and they were just two panting boys in a room with no monsters anywhere in sight. Still, he felt a lot better when Hinata worked his desk chair free and put it in front of the door.  
  
They tried moving the bookshelf, too, until Hinata remembered after a few futile minutes that it was screwed to the wall behind it. At that point, Kageyama was too tired to even call him an idiot anymore.  
  
“Doesn't matter. We have the volleyballs and I brought mum's hair spray along!” Hinata picked up a large bottle from the floor and showed it to Kageyama.  
  
“What good would that even do?”  
  
“If you spray it into its eyes it can't properly see anymore, stupid! Then we can run like hell. Or maybe fight it. As long as we don't die.”  
  
That actually made sense, considering. Kageyama nodded and didn't bother hiding his yawn behind his hand, his eyes watery when he closed his mouth again. Jeez, he was tired.  
  
“Oh, yeah, we should probably set out the futon ...” The way Hinata's words trailed off made Kageyama fear that he would develop a headache or something. Then again, he'd undergone a lot of things today without getting a migraine, which was quite the achievement, so one thing more or less wouldn't bring him down today.  
  
“The futon is out in the living room ...”  
  
It was just down the hall and through that room, but as they both stared at the door they had barricaded as best as they could, Kageyama didn't need excellent people skills like Suga's to know they were both thinking the same thing. 'Out in the living room' felt like 'on the other end of the hill' right about now. Damn it. He had just started feeling remotely safe again, after that adrenaline inducing trip to the bathroom.  
  
“So we should … get it, since we're both tired.” Hinata adopted that tone of voice again, one where he didn't quite say what he wanted to say at first, and his voice went all strange because he wasn't used to that at all. He was probably a horrible liar.  
  
“Or maybe … wouldn't it actually be safer … if, you know. Uhm ...” Hinata was always fidgeting, but now it had reached a whole new level that made Kageyama feel nauseous. Half his body seemed to be in nervous movement, and it made Kageyama nervous as well. Hinata was rubbing of on him way too much today!  
  
“If we slept back to back. That'd be smart, right? Even if we got attacked, one of us would see it coming and could warn the other.”  
  
Sharing a bed with Hinata and sleeping back to back made Kageyama bite his cheek again, inwardly praying that he wasn't blushing.  
  
“... makes sense”, he mumbled without looking at the boy in front of him. On one hand, he was relieved to not have to go outside again, and if it was just to the living room. On the other hand, Hinata (and especially his own reactions to Hinata) confused him like hell today, so that was … kind of scary in itself. Kageyama shook his head as if that could help clear it, determined to stop feeling weird and unsure already.  
  
“You can sleep facing the wall. I'll make sure to watch the door, okay?”  
  
Too tired to argue, Kageyama nodded and glanced at Hinata's bed. It felt very, very weird and like it wasn't his place at all to lie down there, but after a few seconds of waiting Hinata made an impatient noise and flailed his hands so he'd lay down, and Kageyama was honestly too tired to butt heads with him again.  
  
“It's not going to burn you, you know”, Hinata commented from where he stood near the light switch and Kageyama just groaned as he inched over the sheets, maybe a bit as if they'd end up burning him, and lay down. Seconds later, Hinata put out the light and scrambled over, hitting his toe on something and cursing in the sudden darkness. It was his voice and the familiarity that kept Kageyama from freaking completely now that the shadows were basically everywhere.  
  
The mattress dipped and Hinata was still frantic in his attempts to get into bed as fast as possible, accidentally kicking Kageyama in the process of finding a way of lying down so they both had space.  
  
“Ow, watch it -”  
  
“My toe huuurts -”  
  
“Then keep your room more tidy, dumbass -”  
  
“You take up so much space, roll over!”  
  
“I can't, there's a _wall_.”  
  
“Well, I don't plan on falling out -”  
  
In the end, Kageyama was very, very close to the wall and Hinata was pressed against his back in a way that let him feel the warmth of his body. Kageyama liked to think that had nothing to do with that how he stopped breathing for a bit.  
  
Hinata reached down and pulled the blanket over both of them, and they both tugged on it for a while and with growing insistence before they settled on some middle ground.  
  
Kageyama took a deep breath and exhaled again, and the smell hit him like a toss to the back of his head. Everything here smelled like _Hinata_. Even the lingering scent of soap on the borrowed clothes had a hint of his smell, and being as tired as he was – lying under the covers only helped with that – Kageyama allowed himself not to freak out too much about it. He felt safe, that was the simple truth of it. With Hinata so close by and surrounded by a smell that made him think of home, somehow, even though it wasn't home, even though it shouldn't feel like it – he felt warm and comfortable.  
  
It was nice. He burrowed his nose deeper under the blanket and took another deep breath, his heartbeat slowing down already. The darkness lost a lot of it's weight with Hinata's presence so close.  
  
“Is it okay like that?”, Hinata whispered, and without thinking about it, Kageyama whispered as well. ”It's sufferable. Pretty close to the wall.”  
  
“At least you're not on the verge of falling out. Don't push me out of bed tonight.”  
  
“Don't hog the blanket. And I hope you don't snore.”  
  
“I hope _you_ don't snore!”  
  
“Night, then.”  
  
“Good Night, Kageyama.”  
  
Did he have to do that? Did he have to sleepily sigh his name like that, tacked onto that last sentence? It made Kageyama feel much warmer than he should feel under the covers, and the weird feeling was harder to handle with nothing at all to distract him, lying in the darkness and waiting for sleep like that.  
  
It made him wonder what it would sound like if Hinata used his first name, and how ridiculous was that? Seriously, sleep couldn't come fast enough.  
  
This was all the senpai's fault. And Hinata's fault, too. Tsukishima had surely contributed to that mess somehow as well. And now Kageyama was left to deal with it. It was all because of them, the late time of day, and his tiredness that he didn't keep his mouth shut.  
  
“Hey, can I ask you something?”  
  
“Sure.” Hinata didn't even hesitate, his voice soft and with a hint of curiosity, and he kept quiet, the sound of their breathing the only one in the room as Kageyama worked up the courage to whisper his question.  
  
“Would you give me something like that signed volleyball?”  
  
Kageyama clearly wasn't in his right mind at all, and he should probably feel a lot more ashamed than he did. The words just kind of fell from his mouth and onto the pillow and maybe, maybe Hinata hadn't even heard him.  
  
“What are you talking about? Of course not.”  
  
It only took a heartbeat for the warmth to disappear and for feeling like Hinata had dumped cold water over him. He was vulnerable right now, so it hurt, the way Hinata disagreed like it was the most natural answer in the world. Kind of a lot.  
  
“I'd give you something much cooler, obviously.”  
  
It only took another heartbeat for the warmth to return full force. Hinata still had that same nonchalant tone of voice, and Kageyama didn't quite know what to do with himself and the feeling welling up inside of him, so he just kept his nose buried in the blanket that smelled like Hinata and didn't say a thing.  
  
“Besides, I don't plan to part ways, anyway. We only just started. We still have three years ahead! And we should focus on the Spring Tournament first.”  
  
Kageyama didn't trust his voice, so he didn't tell Hinata that he planned on giving his best those next three years, or that _he_ should have been the one to tell Hinata to concentrate on the Spring Tournament.  
  
He kept his eyes shut and his mouth shut, afraid that his voice would betray him another time, and Hinata kept quiet.  
  
In the silence, he could hear his breathing again. The way it slowly turned into a slow and even rhythm had a calming effect on him - it was quite the opposite of the weird, electrical energy surging through Kageyama's body, dancing over his skin, not quite enough to wake his tired muscles again, but definitely enough to keep him awake longer than he would have liked.  
  
Suddenly, he didn't need to ask what he originally wanted to know, deep deep down. He didn't need to hear that Hinata cared about him, too. He knew the answer already.  
  
Surrounded by Hinata's scent, and with his breathing so close, his words still ringing in his ears, Kageyama allowed himself to smile in the darkness, the monster forgotten, its importance overshadowed by the feeling in Kageyama's chest he couldn't give a name to. It wasn't entirely pleasant, but it felt … promising. Kind of nice. Very strong, and very warm.  
  
The last thing he remembered before drifting off to sleep was thinking that Hinata didn't snore after all. But he did mumble incoherent words in his sleep, and it was kind of adorable.

**Author's Note:**

> Hinata fell out of bed two times that night, the first time on accident and the second time Kageyama pushed him out because he had started hogging the blanket for the _third time_ that night and enough is enough. (He went down with the blanket, though.) Kageyama woke up with Hinata's head tucked under his chin and one arm and a leg thrown over him. 
> 
> Oh, and Nishinoya and Tanaka obviously invited the girls, but they didn't want to watch a scary movie and settled on girls' night instead. (Which includes painting toe nails and talking about volleyball.) 
> 
> If any of you want to fangirl about Haikyuu!! or leave some prompts, feel free to hit up my inbox over at my blog, please!  
> citrusfluegel.tumblr.com
> 
> AND OKAY LIKE. Most of y'all have probably been sent this way by viria's perfect art but if you haven't seen this yet then pLEASE LOVE YOURSELF AND GO CHECK IT OUT. Gosh. It's just. So perfect. I cannot. 
> 
> http://viria.tumblr.com/post/87117085333/surrounded-by-hinatas-scent-and-with-his
> 
> http://viria.tumblr.com/post/87300543048/kageyama-fiercely-wished-he-could-sink-into-the
> 
> I AM PRETTY CONVINCED BY NOW THAT I ACCIDENTALLY SOLD MY SOUL I DON'T SEE HOW ELSE TALENTED ARTISTS WOULD FOR SOME REASON KEEP DRAWING THOSE AMAZING THINGS FOR THIS FIC?? DEAR LORD
> 
> http://andythelemon.tumblr.com/post/88488574000/if-we-slept-back-to-back-thatd-be-smart-right


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